May 8 Uranium week: hitting the ceiling

Weekly Reports |May 08 2018

Demand picked up in the spot uranium market last week but every time the sellers back off the buyers lose interest once more.

-Uranium market activity reasonable in April-Spot price rises in May-Australian sales to India getting closer

By Greg Peel

Activity in the uranium market in the month of April did not match that of March but was brisk nonetheless, as fuel loading began in several locations (new reactors preparing for start-up, or in the case of Japan, restart-up). Loading began for two Chinese reactors, one in Finland, and one in Japan.

This meant utilities were active on the buy-side during the month, although traders and producers still dominated. In the case of producers, it is currently cheaper for some to simply buy uranium in the market to satisfy long term delivery contracts than it is to produce it themselves.

Industry consultant TradeTech reports 29 transactions were completed in the spot market in April totalling 5mlbs U3O8 equivalent. The last week saw 2m of those 5mlbs change hands as buying stepped up.

TradeTech's spot price indicator nevertheless closed the month at US$21.00/lb, unchanged from end-March. Only four of the last twelve months have seen an increase in price, and the spot price is down -4.3% year on year.